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Italian

I’m sure I’m not the first person to have said, food knows no borders. How else could our first exposure to Cafe Affogato be in Poland? The first I’d heard of it was when Ed told me about having one at a golf course with his Polish golf pro friend, Przemek. I had a couple of Cafe Affogatos while we lived in Poland. One of the more memorable was at a driving range. You can read all about that here. While we’re on the subject of difficult to pronounce Polish names, how about Przemek? He was the golf pro at this posh driving range. At first, I thought it was Shemek, but no. You must find a way to mumble Prz in front of that . . .shemek.

How did we come to be having Cafe Affogato for breakfast here in Tucson? Well, we’re having them in the morning because we don’t have decaf espresso. We’re having them again because on a recent trip to Costco trying to remember what we were shopping for, we drove by Tuscon’s new Top Golf, a multi-level driving range that serves food and drinks. It’s Chuckie Cheese for grownup golfers. We haven’t been yet, and I said that we should make a point of trying it out because it was as close as we would get to Hotel Solei, home of the driving range mentioned in the paragraph above. That led to planning to buy ice cream and what cute little cups we would use to serve our Cafe Affogatos.

If you haven’t had one yet, let me explain that affogato is Italian for drowned. It’s simply a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato drowned with hot espresso. It is a dessert or a beverage? You’ll find it in both places on the menu depending on where you are. It’s so simple that I feel a little silly putting it into a recipe format, but that the only way to let search engines know that I’m writing about how to prepare something. You can, of course, do as others do and fancy it up a bit, with other flavors of ice cream, syrups, sprinkles, or maybe even some yummy baked good under the ice cream, brownie affogato?

Did you make this recipe?

figs, bacon, goat cheese on a bed of greens with a roasted hazelnut vinaigrette

For most of my life, I have not been a fan of figs. I remember a eccentric church member, we’ll call her REW, stopping by my office years ago with a basket full of figs that she’d hoped to give away. When I declined, REW cut off a hunk of fig, shoved it at me saying, “taste it!” She forced me at knife point, so to speak. Despite her forceful nature, I again had to decline, explaining the the texture was too gritty for me. REW proceeded down the office hallway with her figs looking for a more appreciative recepient.

The theme of our time in Poland could be described as “try new things” or “try everything you can.” When my friends from the Poznan International Ladies Club were raving about the figs with goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto they’d sampled recently, I had to give this a try at home. If your history with figs has been like mine, let me suggest that you try them roasted. It’s a totally new experience, not at all gritty!

We began to talk about planting a fig tree when we returned to Arizona. Figs are one of the few fruit trees to thrive in our hot climate. When I mention his to my mother, she said not to buy one because they had a fig tree they would happily give us. We now have a fig tree that comes with a story.

Our tree has grown from a cutting taken from one of the first fig trees brought to the area by the Spainish. The young tree was intended for the Mission Garden, part of the Rio Nuevo project. Rio Nuevo was a downtown revitalization project that fizzled out during the recent economic slump. During this delay, the little fig in a six inch pot was given to our family friend, the late Bunny Fontana. Bunny was a brilliant, charming man, but he would have been the first to admit that he was not a gardener. He said as much when he gave the six inch pot with the now five foot tall fig tree to my mother.

My parents moved the tree to a 5 gallon container and had hoped to harvest enough figs to make something similar to this dish, thinking it would be fun to serve Bunny figs from his tree. The tree grew a lot, but it never produce more than one ripe fig at a time.

Our fig tree has been in the ground for almost two years. The one fig at a time trend continued until this summer. Now, we’re finally getting a harvest with which you can do something. This summer, we’ve had fig pastries, figs in bacon, and if my luck holds out, we might even have fig jam, a wonderful addition to a charcuterie platter.

We’ve been eating bacon wrapped figs with goat cheese all summer, but only recently added the hazelnut dressing and greens. It’s a winning combination!

Our daughter, Lauren, used to work in a library, so she is well aware of the treasures on library shelves. I was surprised to learn that you can find cookbooks at the library, but Lauren has gathered quite a stack of recipes without spending a fortune on cookbooks.

This is one from her collection. It’s from the cookbook Celebrate by Pippa Middelton, and something we fixed when I stayed with Lauren earlier this year. I love to add vegetarian dishes to my repertoire, but I find that I would like this dish seasoned a little more than the sister-in-law of the future king of England – no surprise there. 😉

(We made the full béchamel recipe, even though we were making a smaller pan of lasagna, so ours is heavy on the sauce)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 F

Add onion, squash, chopped sage and garlic to a large baking dish

Toss with a little olive oil

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until soft (We used frozen cubes of butternut squash, giving it a chop or quick whir in the food processor will give you a thinner veg layer than pictured here.)

In a separate pan, add the spinach, nutmeg, salt and pepper

Cook in a little olive oil until the spinach has wilted, pressing out any excess water

Cook the lasagna noodles, for 5 minutes just to make them soft, in a large pan of boiling salted water with a little oil olive added to help keep the noodles from sticking

To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stir in the flour (you should have a paste), cook for a couple of minutes

Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly, to form a thick sauce, add the ¾ cup Parmesan cheese (the recipe doesn’t call for it, but it would have benefited from a little salt, maybe a pinch of white pepper and/or cayenne)

To assemble all of the components, put a layer of pasta in a 9 x 13 baking dish, top with a layer of the squash mixture, a layer of béchamel sauce, some spinach and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese

Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of pasta, spread with the remaining béchamel sauce, scatter the top with mozzarella slice and any remaining Parmesan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes until the mozzarella bubbles and browns

Garnish with the whole sage leaves flash fried in a little butter (we were running a little short on sage)

Serves: 8

Pippa recommends paring this with a full-bodied white wine such as a Chenin Bland or a white Rhone

There are dozens of sausages in the butcher case here in Poland, but I’ve yet to find Italian sausage. I try to embrace the local cuisine, but every now and then you need something for spaghetti sauce or a hot sausage sandwich.

It’s easy to find ground pork here, so I’ve taken to making my own bulk Italian sausage.

Last winter our friend, Grzegorz, stopped by and sampled my wisniowka (as he called it), a homemade cherry liqueur. I think he was impressed not only by the drink, but by the fact that an American was taking part in this popular Polish pastime of making liqueurs.

He said that I must try making orzechowka, a green walnut liqueur. He was so keen on the idea that he phoned his mother to get his aunt’s recipe. I jotted it down in my iPad notes with a reminder to get in touch with Greg next May. He promised to bring me a bag of green walnuts from his aunt’s tree.

Greg’s family recipe, Day 1

Two weeks in brine for vinegar based options

It’s been a mild summer, so it was late June before Greg popped round with the green walnuts, which look more like a lime than what you’re used to seeing in the nut bowl at Christmas.

I’ve followed the directions to start a batch of the Polish family recipe. Rather than make a huge batch of this liqueur, because we’re moving back to the states in 6 months, I decided to search the Internet to what else people do with green walnuts.

I have small batches of several recipes going thanks to Agrarinista. I’m trying an Italian green walnut liqueur as well as the Polish version. The main difference seems to be that the Italian version will include spices. The walnuts that are in the brine will go on to become green walnut ketchup, green walnut chutney, and pickled green walnuts.

I’ll do separate posts as we finish and sample everything, but I wanted to mention this now, in case you have a source of green walnuts but aren’t sure what to do with them.

Welcome to my second Crazy Cooking Challenge. This is Julie’s recipe from Sugarfoot Eats. You need to check out her blog if for no other reason than to see where the name came from; it’s a great story. Getting back to the dish at hand, it might be more accurate to say this is the spaghetti Julie would make if she lived in Poland where we have lots of sausage, none of it Italian.

I bought ground meat (pork and beef, because the pork is just too lean), and seasoned it using Alton Brown’s recipe for Italian sausage, added salt, pepper, fennel, and parsley. Ed thought heat would be a good idea, so we also tossed in a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. This is the land of mushrooms, so it was no problem finding three different kinds to use – white button, portabello, and chanterelles.

I enjoyed this dish immensely, the flavor was rich and complex. Even though I knew every ingredient, I struggled to identify and separate them once they had blended. Our dinner guests raved about the taste, the proportion of meat to mushroom. Who am I kidding? I stack the deck by inviting Ed’s coworkers whose wives are stateside. They’re nice polite guys who enjoy a home cooked meal. (I know you’re reading this Bill and Bill.)

Give it a try; this delicious red sauce is different than anything we’ve ever had before!

Another great recipe from Giada’s Kitchen. My daughter gave me this cookbook last summer, and I’ve loved everything that I’m made from it. I’ve been curious about olive oil cakes for some time. When my brother told me about some of the recipes he’s tested, that was just the push I needed. These olive oil muffins were easy to whip up and they were the perfect snack for our road trip to Łódź. I was worried that the taste of the oil would be overpowering, but the most dominate flavor and fragrance was from the citrus zest with a hint of almond!

I made these one days when friends were stopping by. I bake them in some cool parchment paper muffin cups. They were so impressed that one told me she’d never invite me to her home for dinner; it would be too intimidating. Being a food blogger — it’s a mixed blessing.

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, and zests until light and fluffy

Add the vinegar and milk

Gradually, beat in oil

Stir in dry ingredients, just until combined

Crunch half of the almonds with your hands and add them

Stir until mixed

Fill the muffin cups, the batter will go almost to the top of the liner or cup

Top with remaining toasted almond slices

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Notes

Note: Spread the almonds on baking sheet, and bake at 350 for about 7 minutes. If you can’t find sliced almonds, I have also substituted whole almonds, which I toasted and ran through my mini-food processor until finely ground.

Because some vegetables need to cook longer than others, I tend to slice and dice as the previous ingredients are cooking. I’ve also prepared this with diced prosciutto (add with the garlic), diced tomatoes (add with the squash), and grated Parmesan cheese (add at the end of cooking).

Over medium to medium-high heat, add oil to a very large frying pan. Add carrots; stirring occasionally. While carrots are cooking, slice bell peppers then add to frying pan. Season with salt, stirring as needed. While the mix is cooking, slice onion and prepare cabbage. Add to frying pan and season with salt, and continue to stir. Prepare garlic and squash, add to pan and season with salt, stir. Cook pasta; drain; add to frying pan, combining with vegetables. Season with black and cayenne peppers to taste.